Rev. Dr. A’Shellarien Addison is an Army Chaplain, spiritual trauma-informed counselor and coach, prolific author, publisher, adult and pediatric hospice chaplain, international speaker, mentor, wife, mother, and grandmother. She is the CEO of Desakajo’s Flo which includes publishing, record production, credit empowerment, and travel. Rev. Dr. A’Shellarien is the author of Does Love Cover…THAT?: The Healing Process of the Fruit of the Spirit; Finding Me: A Woman’s Theology of Self Identification; Beside the Still Waters: Having Faith Even When….; The Chick on the Side: From the Heart of a Wife; A Conversation With Myself: Healing the Internal Voice; Spiritual Alpha Female: Unleashing 9 Leadership Principles from Proverbs 31; Refreshing Reflections: 365 Moments of Meditation Military Edition, Spiritual Awakening: 7 Shifts From Who I Am To Who I Am Becoming; Going Back For Me: Reconciling Pain and Peace When Trauma Collides With Faith; Created To Make The Not Good, Good: 9 MasterKeys of a GOOD Wife; and a contributing writer of Black Women and Girls Matter: Voices of Resilience, Resistance, and Resolve.
She has an Associate of Art degree in Early Childhood Education, a Bachelor of Science in Urban Ministry Leadership, a Master of Divinity and a Master of Sacred Theology from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, and a Doctor of Theology in Biblical Theology from Almeda University. Dr. Addison is completing a Doctor of Education in Traumatology from Liberty University. She has four units of Clinical Pastoral Education and is certified in Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy through the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). She is trained in Marriage and Family Therapy from the Council for Relationships in Philadelphia, PA. She is a graduate of the Mental Health Integration for Chaplain Services (MHICS) program through the Uniformed Service University She is a graduate of Delaware Leadership Academy. God called her into ministry in 1999 and she yielded to the call in 2000. She was ordained in 2003 as a Minister of the Gospel at Gate To Heaven Ministry by Prophet Carnell A. Smith Sr. In January 2006 she was ordained in the Baptist tradition by Bishop Charles M. Hudson Jr. In 2014 she was ordained an Itinerate Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Chaplain Major A’Shellarien is the first woman to serve as Chaplain in the over 240-year history of the Delaware Army National Guard (DEARNG). CH (MAJ) A’Shellarien deployed with the DEARNG 198th Expeditionary Signal Battalion in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (Spartan Shield) in 2019. She is the first woman Army National Guard Headquarters Battalion/ Temple Army Readiness Center Installation Chaplain at National Guard Bureau in Arlington, VA. She currently serves as the Delaware Army National Guard 721st Troop Command Chaplain.
